Women air force pilots: Breaking down another barrier

As the Indian Air Force gets ready to allow women in the cockpit of fighter planes, a big challenge that Pereira faced 2 decades ago will be mostly missing.

As the Indian Air Force gets ready to allow women in the cockpit of fighter planes, a big challenge that Pamela Pereira and her colleagues faced two decades ago will be mostly missing or will be too feeble.

This retired wing commander, who now pilots Boeing 737s for Jet Airways, was part of the first batch of woman pilots inducted by the IAF in 1994 for non-combat duties. For Pereira and her female colleagues, who just breached a male bastion then, a bigger challenge than piloting planes through rough weather was fighting perceptions – mostly outside the forces, but to some extent inside the IAF as well – as many at the time didn’t approve of women working in such hostile conditions or accept their capabilities.

“We were the first batch of woman pilots and every crew room we walked into, every squadron we joined, every commander we worked under, we had to prove ourselves all over again,” she said. Within the IAF, the problem remained only till the male officers realised what the women were capable of.

Archana Kapoor, a retired wing commander and Pereira’s batch mate, remembers such a situation where a male officer had continuously avoided flying with her. “He was a senior navigator of our squadron and though he never openly refused to fly with me, it was a given that if he were the navigator on a particular day, I would not be going,” Kapoor said. One day, when the captain and other crew called in sick, Kapoor had to be rushed in for a military exercise and the navigator happened to be on the same flight.

“I could tell he was uncomfortable, even during the briefing before the exercise,” she said. However, after Kapoor completed the exercise, landing at four-five places amid bad weather, things changed. “We were walking back and he told me, ‘Archana, I would fly with you any day’.” Periera said she didn’t like it when the male officers would say “you were amazing, we didn’t expect you to do so well”. “I wanted them to see my abilities just like they saw any male officer’s. Why was it surprising that I was doing my job as a pilot, only because I am a woman?”

Those who will join in combat roles are unlikely to face such situations as there is a marked change in the mind set with women proving their mettle in corporate boards to battlegrounds. The IAF decision could help strike down some more obstacles. India last month said it would allow women to f ly fighter planes, starting June 2017.

“The issue of women joining the IAF as fighter pilots has been under consideration for long. Looking at their aspirations and capabilities, the government has approved the induction of women in the fighter stream,” Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha told ET. “We expect the first batch to commence training soon.”

The IAF currently has 108 women piloting transport planes and helicopters. Many countries already have women flying combat missions. Jeannie Leavitt became the US’ first female fighter pilot in 1993, while the UK inducted its first woman fighter pilot in 2004. Across the border, Ayesha Farooq in 2013 became the first female fighter pilot in Pakistan. “It’s high time this move was announced, as it will finally change the cultural mindset that blocks deserving women from combat roles,” a woman pilot from the transport branch said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “There are woman pilots who are flying one kilometer from the Line of Control, they are already in the enemy line of fire.”

Kapoor, the retired wing commander, called the IAF decision “twenty years too late”. A second generation air force officer, she wanted to be a fighter pilot but rules didn’t let her achieve the dream. Her daughter is now keen to join the forces as a fighter pilot.

While Kapoor’s daughter may not face any restrictions from the family in pursuing her ambition, that’s not the case with most women aiming to take up combat roles in the forces. The biggest obstacle they still have to clear is the one posed by the near and dear ones, though often that disappears when they see their daughters in uniform.

There was some ambiguity over the exact role that women will play in the fighter stream, with murmurs that they may initially only fly MiGs and Jaguars – and not the super-maneuverable Sukhois – or participate in surveillance and bombing missions as opposed to air defence. Air Chief Marshal Raha said their role would be same as that of their male counterparts. Pereira, meanwhile, doesn’t see a thing that a man can do but a woman can’t. “If a woman fighter found herself on the wrong side of the border, I am sure she will be able to stand up to the challenge.”